Canada Budget Aims to Stoke Business Investment

Canada said Tuesday it would give the country’s manufacturers an extra decade to aggressively write off capital investment, as the resource-driven Canadian economy feels the impact of lower prices for crude oil and other commodities.

The boost for manufacturers was one of several measures aimed at stoking business investment, which the federal government said has slowed to annual growth of less than 1% since mid-2012 compared to roughly 12% expansion per year during the early stages of the post-crisis recovery. Along with the tax relief for manufacturers, Canada pledged to cut the tax rate applied to small firms over a four-year period starting in 2016, to 9% from 11%.